Criminal Procedure Code 2010 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 6 · Arrest and Bail and Processes to Compel Appearance
103. Absconding or breaking conditions of bail or personal bond, etc.
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A released person who does not attend court as required may be arrested without a warrant. If the court thinks the person is unlikely to attend court, it may remand them in custody or grant bail on conditions it thinks fit. Knowingly failing to attend without reasonable excuse can bring a fine, up to 3 years in prison, or both.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Last amended by an amending law of 2018.
If a released person under a duty to surrender to custody, or to make himself or herself available for investigations or to attend court, does not do so, he or she may be arrested without a warrant.
released person
“released person” means any person who is released on bail or on his or her personal bond, as the case may be;
If a released person leaves the court at any time after he or she has surrendered into its custody or after he or she has attended court on the day and at the time appointed for him or her to do so, and before the court is ready to begin or to resume the hearing of the proceedings, the court may issue a warrant for his or her arrest.
court
“court” means the Court of Appeal, the General Division of the High Court, a Family Court, a Youth Court, a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court (as the case may be) which exercises criminal jurisdiction;
A released person under a duty to surrender to custody, or to make himself or herself available for investigations or to attend court on the day and at the time and place appointed for him or her to do so, may be arrested without a warrant if —
surrender to custody
“surrender to custody”, in relation to a released person, means to surrender himself or herself into the custody of the court or a police officer (as the case may be) according to the bail or bond conditions at the time and place appointed for him or her to do so.
there are reasonable grounds for believing that he or she is unlikely to surrender to custody, or to make himself or herself available for investigations or to attend court;
there are reasonable grounds for believing that he or she is likely to break or has broken any of the conditions of his or her bail or personal bond; or
any of his or her sureties informs the police or court that the person is unlikely to surrender to custody, or to make himself or herself available for investigations or to attend court and that the surety therefore wishes to be relieved of his or her obligations as a surety.
When such a person is brought before the court pursuant to an arrest under this section and the court thinks that the person —
is unlikely to surrender to custody, or to make himself or herself available for investigations or to attend court; or
has broken or is likely to break any conditions of his or her bail or personal bond,the court may remand the person in custody or grant him or her bail subject to such conditions as it thinks fit.
A released person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both, if the released person knowingly, and without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any duty imposed on the released person —
to surrender to custody;
to be available for investigations; or
to attend court on the day and at the time and place appointed for the released person to do so.
For the purposes of subsection (5), a released person is presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have no reasonable excuse if —
on or before the date of the failure to comply with the duty, the released person left Singapore without the permission of a police officer or the court (as the case may be) and has not returned to Singapore; or
on the date of the failure to comply with the duty, the released person, being outside Singapore, remains outside Singapore without the permission of the police officer or the court, as the case may be.